Llangollen, British, Modern Restaurant Guide

“Stunning views over the River Dee rapids in the heart of Llangollen” ensure that “it’s always a treat to visit” this 700-year-old former water mill – a “wonderful old building with a terrace”, these days a gastropub from the Brunning and Price stable serving “very dependable food”: “I’ve never known anyone not to love it!”

You only get Marc Wilkinson’s address on booking at this relocated venue – just outside Oswestry. Having made his name at a quirky 14-seater near Birkenhead, he’s swapped it for a chef’s table actually inside his new home in rural Shropshire, where he’s been set up for a year now. Fans applaud his “usual flair and innovation… his skill and knowledge that shines through in every morsel… and the standard and quality of the dishes he creates that never fail to tantalise the tastebuds”. You eat from a £130 per person tasting menu served to the whole table at once with reservations months ahead released on the first of each month. He also offers a “stunning overnight stay” for £150 per person. All reports say he’s “really excelled himself at this new venue”… “and I love the treat of being in Chef’s own front room… it’s private dining on a new level… a really special experience” that is “just getting better and better as it evolves!”

Just outside of Wrexham, a lovely link in the Brunning & Price empire, who took over this large and picturesque neglected pile (then decked out as a sports pub) in 1994 and transformed it into a “very comfortable” venue, as per their style. The undemanding but enjoyable food, which ranges from burgers to fish ‘n’ chips and chicken ramen, is “solid”, staff are “friendly” and there’s “a great big garden for the kids to muck around in during the summer”; it can, however, “get very busy” – a testament to its charms.

“The new team continue the excellent food one has come to expect” according to (practically) all reports on this well-known culinary haven near Lake Bala, which was taken over in 2024 by Gareth Stevenson (formerly a chef at nearby Palé Hall) from Bryan & Susan Webb who had established it over twenty years as one of Wales’s foremost restaurants with rooms. Fans say the cooking is “in a light style now but cooked to perfection” and there’s particular praise for the “excellent list of wines with many unusual vintages” (including from English and Welsh vineyards). Fascinating fact: in the 1980s, it was BBC production designer Peter Kindred who first converted this Georgian hunting lodge into a hotel, whose credits included designing the sets for Fawlty Towers!

“So decadent and romantic, with its dark wood stairs, thick squishy carpet as you tiptoe to dinner and heavy swishy curtains framing idyllic views to the garden” – this Relais & Chateaux property near the banks of the Dee and with views of Eryri National Park can claim both Winston Churchill and Queen Victoria as past guests and was originally built as a hunting lodge for the Duke of Westminster. Curiously, it has struggled a little over the last few years to attract reports in our annual diners’ poll, or other awards (there was a Michelin Green Star in 2021) all of which looks potentially set to change since the 2024 purchase by Anthony Cooper-Barney and his wife Donna. Having announced in May 2025 the recruitment of Edward Marsh as Head Chef they followed up with the coup of attracting star name, Luke Selby who will also join in 2026 after Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons closes for refurbishment. The main dining venue here is the Henry Robertson Dining Room, four- and six-course tasting menus are currently served. Given such upheavals after our annual diners’ poll had concluded, we have, for the time being, left it un-rated.